UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, Education

How can you make a difference? 

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

Under the supervision of the Adolescent Development Specialists and Education Advisor the consultant will develop a programmatic guidance on "Skills and school to work transition" that provides strategic direction for UNICEF's work in the areas of skills development, youth agency and school to work transition.

The guidance will draw from the preparatory work that UNICEF's team has done, including a desk review, interviews with UNICEF country office and a first proposal of priority areas. The consultant's role is to build on the analysis and work done, conduct key meetings especially with potential regional partners and finalize the programmatic guidance. UNICEF has several guiding documents on this area, from HQ, Generation Unlimited and other regions, and we expect this product to complement contextualize the existing ones and provide accessible, practical and actionable information specific for UNICEF and partners from the LAC region.

Scope of Work:

106 million adolescents and young people in Latin America and the Caribbean are facing physical changes, building skills, and forming social relationships decisive for their development. The second decade of life is essential in defining who they want to be in the world and who they can become.

However, regional demographic shifts, economic development, and advances in digital technology mean that today's adolescents live in a unique context, facing challenges never seen before. Because they are growing up in a changing world that requires constant adaptation, building the right set of skills is vital for young people to become agile, adaptive learners and citizens, equipped to navigate school, work, and life. In 13 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, a quarter of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are not engaged in education, employment, or training, with the ratio rising to a third in the 18-24 age group.2 More specifically, 9.7 million adolescents aged 10-18 are out of secondary school.

To address the challenges faced by adolescents and young people to develop the right skills and successfully transition to the world of work, UNICEF LACRO is in the process of developing a programming guidance on "skills and transition to the world of work" aimed at strengthening UNICEF's programmatic response and accelerate results for adolescents and young people.

Specific Tasks

• Establish timeline of the process to develop the programmatic guidance.
• Review, systematize and complete the desk review already started by UNICEF LACRO
• Mapping of partnership: identify strategic partnership that can support the implementation of the programmatic guidance and facilitate a consultation process and produce guidelines to identify synergies and prospective areas of collaboration.
• Drafting the final guidance document: based on the 1st draft proposed by UNICEF, prepare a comprehensive document that outlines UNICEF's LACRO approach, principles and strategies for skills development, youth agency and school to work transition. Include practical recommendations, case studies (already mapped by UNICEF), monitoring mechanism and partnership analysis.
• Validation: Facilitate the validation process with UNICEF HQ, LACRO, COs and key partners.

Expected Results

• An inception report available for review and approval
• A partners mapping to support implementation of the programmatic guidance
• A programmatic guidance for "skills development, youth agency and school to work transition."
• A Workshop and PPT presentation

Deliverables

Total days= 40

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

• Master´s degree in Education, social sciences, economy or related fields
• Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required (to be used for technical evaluation in the competitive process)
• At least 10 years of experience in skills development, education, youth, labour policies
• Extensive experience in skills development, education, youth, labour policies Strong analytical skills and ability to synthesize and simplify complex information.
• Understanding of education systems, skills development programmes, non-formal education, and work- based learning models
• Familiarity with the Public-Private ecosystem involved in the school to work transition agenda.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, excellent technical communication with peers and non- technical stakeholders.
• Innovative and creative
• Fluency in Spanish and English (reading, speaking, and writing).

Administrative details

Supervision: The consultant will report to the Adolescent Development Specialists and the Education Advisor.

Workplace: This consultancy will be remote.

Duration: This contract will have a duration of approximately 4.5 months.

How to Apply: Application should be submitted online and should include TMS application form duly completed, Cover Letter and Financial proposal. Qualified candidates are requested to indicate an all-inclusive (lump sum) fee for the services to be provided, including all administrative costs.

Is travel involved: Travel is not foreseen for this consultancy. Should travel be requested, it will be covered by UNICEF as per policy.

• Travel costs will be estimated and added to the contract once they are determined based on UNICEF Financial Rules and Regulations.
• For agreed country visits, the contractor/consultant will be responsible in administering their own travel. UNICEF will reimburse travel related expenses based on actual costs or on the below criteria whichever is lower and upon presentation of receipts.
• Any travel involved should be budgeted according to UN Travel Standards as a ceiling.
• UN Secretariat Administrative Instruction on Official Travel, ST/AI/2013/3: Sect. 4, para. 4.2, numerals (d) and (e)
• For information on Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA), can be found on the International Civil Service Commission website (all countries and destinations can be found by navigating on the map).

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

 To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

 *****

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.